Last Day at Athens Jan 30 2025

                                                        Ice Conditions

 Whiff was dismantled and packed up this afternoon.  We had a few hours of sailing today off the boat launch. Ice measured 4-5 inches. With Fridays rain it was decided to be prudent and clear out.  We'll have to see the impact of the rain to see where the next best ice may be. Time to check out Berkshire Bowl and/or Copake Lake. Conditions continue to be monitored at Orange Lake as well.

  Last sail for Whiff in Athens, on a southwest breeze, or wait make that Northwest; uh now it's out of the north, and yet now from the west..... 

I've been getting a lot of great photos of sailing at Athens this week.  Still going through many of them.  Two Athens area photographers have been capturing the action over a number of years. 

Check out  a few of their pictures, follow the links below. Much better captures than  I'll ever get on my phone.  Enjoy & thanks to Robert & Jonathan.  

Robert Near Athens Pictures                     Jonathan Palmer Athens Ice 

 

Sometimes after a long day of moving ice boats and rigging them, you just need a game of Cats Cradle.... 

     Jonathan Palmer photo 

Meanwhile Brett has been testing the ice at Orange Lake several days this week in Genevieve.  High winds and a large sail area pushed through the snow cover.

Genevieve  circa 1910 was built in the Bronx for the Wrigley (baseball) family. It sailed out in the mid-west until about 20 years ago when Brett brought it back east. It was built to a design drawn up by H. Percy Ashley, who designed and built boats on Orange Lake in the 1890s and early 1900s.  Many Ashley designs were published in Rudder magazine at the turn of the century. 

photos courtesy of Maggie McNamara

Athens-on-Hudson January 25 - 27 2025

                                                                                Ice Conditions

Monday 1-27-25

Boats are off of the River. Sailing over for now!  Skippers decided to play it safe and remove our boats from the creek today, due to the not so favorable weather forecast over the next 5 days.

Todays very brisk winds kept most boats in the Creek, though Captain Steve, Captain Frank, and Captain Sam (all actual river captains)  gave rides to a few spectators and fellow club members.  As the winds continued to gust the 3 boats dropped sails, leaving a few DNs and skimmers to sail the ice for a bit more. 

Done for the time being. 

     Captain Frank pilots Aurora, reefed and no jib. 

                         Captain Steve took over the helm of Whirlwind, 

                     whose modified skeeter sail was a good  choice for the conditions.

       Captain Sam took the Germantown Greyhound crew across the ice, challenging the tanker to a race.

         It appears to be a Cosco  bulk carrier- delivering salt mined in South America. ( as per retired River pilot Frank - from his experiencing on the River)

Sunday 1-26-25

A fabulous day at Athens on Sunday.  The brisk winds moderated and over time reefed boats shook out and there was a plate full of dancing stern steerers. Many rides for friends and first timers. Skaters, dogs, and curious onlookers made navigating  a bit tricky at times  but there was room for all.  Winds were light then gusty and we went from a slow crawl to a  screaming run.  Boats sailed non stop from 10 am till dark.  

   

      Floater, a DN, Galatea

                         Captain Kate at the helm of Floater.
   

        William in his foldable stern steerer.  youngest skipper in the HRIYC! 

       Hound,  heads upwind as the sun starts to set...

Saturday 1-25-25

                   Galatea,  Whiff, Aurora  1/25/25 

 Members & ice yachts from the Hudson River Ice Yacht Club are sailing on the ice at Athens on the west side of Middle Ground Flats. Beautiful hard black ice from the Murderers Creek boat launch to the village of Athens park. No boat sailed all that far south of the Creek on this first day on the Hudson.  There was a large crowd of onlookers and for the more adventuresome, a ride from one of the ice yacht skippers.  

If you do come down to see the boats, do so with caution. The ice is always unpredictable. It is easy to slip & fall. Stay clear of the areas & routes the iceboats are coming and going through.  

On the ice so far:

Whiff - The historic Centennial Yacht.  Read about Whiff's history HERE. 

Galatea - from the Clarkson Estate in Tivoli  circa 1888. 

Orion  circa 1906  Originally from the brickyard at Malden on Hudson 

Mary Ellen- Circa 1870

Greyhound - circa 1900 HydePark boat 

Hound - Circa 1906  Hyde Park boat 

Aurora 

Whirlwind II 

Floater- Saugerties boat  so named as that's what happened when previous owners sailed her into the River

Orange Lake January 17 &18 2025

                                    Ice Conditions 

This lake, just west of Newburgh, NY, finally froze over after the strong winds over several weeks finally subsided. Boats have been arriving this week.  Some of the action over the 17 &18th. 

                                   set up day Jan 16

RainbowII - Built by George Buckhout, 1902, from Hyde Park,  This was her maiden voyage back in the Hudson Valley after sailing in NJ and out in the midwest for over the past 100+ years... She was recently acquired by the Lawrences.

Rainbow II - reunited with the cup it won in a race with the Hudson River Ice Yacht Club in March 1904. 

Long story of how the Cup was found....for another time...  

Several ice yachts are up from Red Bank NJ.  Fickle winds for most of the day; 

 Some lively racing on Saturday between Rainbow II (HRIYC)  and Georgie II & Ymir (both NSIBYC).

Again winds were  fickle - shifting some and up& down. Still some close races with Rainbow & Georgie each taking a win. 

      Ymir  on a downwind lap.  Ymir was built by George Buckhout around 1898 for Percival Lloyd of Poughkeepsie. Dave Drawbaugh is current owner sailing for the North Shrewsbury Ice Boat &Yacht Club.
 

      Rainbow II  - first time in race, and she performed very well!

      NSIYBC    Steve Foster's Georgie II

     Jeff Morton in his B class sloop, Winny, circa 1930.

     A first for me - sailing in the rain! It came up quick around 12:30 or so as I was heading back to the pits.    Sails were quickly furled & boats covered for the day.   A few dns and an IceBird sailed for another hour.   We might get a few hours in Sunday Morn before the snow arrives. 

Samuel Rogers racing trophies

                                                                        ice conditions

We've wrapped up the 2 week display of ice yachts at the FDR Museum & Library in Hyde Park. On the last day we had a pleasant surprise with a visit from the great-grandson of the builder of the Allons. Tim & his son Leo came by and brought a collection of Club trophies won by his great grandfather Samuel R. Rogers. 

       Photo courtesy of Brett Kolfrat 

Not only was Rogers a builder of ice yachts, he was also a skilled skipper, winning many races over a decade of racing ice yachts in Hyde Park.   

Samuel R, Rogers was a charter member of the Hyde Park Ice Yacht Club, (HPIYC) which organized Feb. 16, 1899. He built the yacht Allons, for Henry Sleight in 1899. He also built Ogden Mills' yacht Beatrice; and his own boat Bessie (also built in 1899), a sloop rig with 241 sq ft of sail.  Other yachts I believe Rogers' built include Trouble and Aeolus. 

        Rogers sailing Bessie (R), with Henry Sleight at the helm of Allons (L).  

Rogers won the first ever race of the HPIYC, on February 1, 1900, finishing ahead of 4 other boats. This is his winning Edward H. Wales Cup: (Wales was also a charter member of HPIYC and later Commodore) 

In that first year of Club racing, in 1900, Rogers was awarded the Bird Point Cup, for highest place finishes over 5 races, in his yacht Bessie I.  (Rogers built a second boat Bessie II, which he raced in 1902).

He continued to win races over the next 12+ years.  More of his winning race cups follow, cared for by his great-grandson Tim. 

                      This was for an open class 10 mile race with 5 other boats, on February 8,1902.  

First race of the 1905 season. This is the Club cup. Interestingly (well maybe...) Rogers had sold Bessie II in 1903 to George Paulding who renamed it Scat. Rogers sailed Scat for Paulding during the 1903 season. He repurchased Scat in 1904 and gave it back its' original name - Bessie.  S.R. Rogers also raced Comet, for William Coleman Rogers during that 1903 season. W.C. Rogers was one of Archibald Rogers sons (no relation to S.R. Rogers)

 

Ice yachting in Hyde Park grew considerably in the first decade of the 1900s. The Club started with 22 members and 7 boats in 1899, and by the beginning of 1903 had 53 members and 25 registered yachts! The Club ran 12 races successfully in the 1903 season.  

January 10 was the only day of racing in 1910. This was the A. Rogers Cup, won by Samuel Rogers in his 6th class boat Trouble. It had 197 sq ft of sail.  In other races that day with Trouble, Rogers came in 2nd in the free for all - racing against boats with much larger sail areas, showing his skill as an iceboat racer. In the 6th class race for the Club trophy he lost to Archie Rogers sailing his cat rigged yacht Mink. Same day still, lastly, Rogers sails Rebecca (owned by Ralph Foster) to a third place finish in the 5th class race, among 7 boats.  

I could't find any record of this 6th class race in 1912.  I have used records from Club books in 1909 (HPIYC) and 1908 (HRIYC); and from the comprehensive record compiling of Harry Briggs, who was long time secretary of the HPIYC.  His write ups on Ice Boating on the Hudson are found at the Dutchess County Historical Society.  

What I do see is that on March 4  Rogers raced in several races as skipper of Silas Lane's Ice Yacht Storm King. In the 4th class club race he beat 3 of the most successful ice yacht skippers of the day: Archie Rogers, sailing Otter; Norman Wright sailing Dutchess; and Willie Smith, sailing FDR's lateen rig Hawk.  

All 3 of those racers had been winners in Ice Yacht Challenge Pennant races in the past.   

Snow Squall belonged to John Hopkins, who was a charter member of both the HRIYC (1885) and HPIYC (1899). Hopkins was secretary of the HRIYC in 1908 when FDR was Vice Commodore. Rogers skippered Snow Squall for Hopkins in several races in 1911.  

 

There are several other cups awarded to Rogers that are out there. One is at the FDR Library & Museum. Another belongs to a long time member of the HRIYC.  Go to this post to see those cups, as well as photos of Samuel Rogers. 

New Year's Day in Red Bank, NJ

A group of Hudson River ice boaters traveled down to Red Bank New Years Day to enjoy the open house at the Historic ice boat clubhouse of the North Shrewsbury Ice Boat & Yacht Club. We enjoyed the fabulous hospitality of the Red Bank crew and marveled in the history of the Clubhouse - which dates back to the establishment of the Red Bank Club in 1880. Boats in both clubs - NSIBYC and the HRIYC - are being readied for races this winter. Challenges for the Van Nostrand trophy and the Friendship Pennant are in & sailors are looking forward to some lively competition. Now let's find the ice!    ( Local news on the day.)

Happy New Year! 

Ruth in front, Icicle, (back left) & the Rocket, set up outside the clubhouse with a few other Club boats. The winds were howling in the shrouds! 

Original Rocket was built 1888. Was restored & relaunched in 2014 on the Hudson.  
 

The Clubhouse is a museum of vintage pictures trophies banners and more. There is movement to get it designated a National Historic Landmark. It's a great place to warm up as well! 

The Van Nostrand Challenge Ice Yacht Cup of America.  

Made by Tiffany's in 1889. Won by Scud in 1891.  Cup story HERE.  

               Dock contemplates how to hide the cup under his jacket on the way out.... 

Hoping for ice on the Navesink soon!   Many thanks to the sailors of the NSIBYC!